Ukraine, Georgia denounce pro-Russian separatists

Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili (R) speaks with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko (C) as they visit the village of Odzisi near the administrative border with the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, Georgia July 19, 2017 (Photo: Reuters)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was speaking Wednesday during his visit to Georgia, which fought a brief war with Russia in 2008. Two Georgian regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, declared independence after the war and have since enjoyed Russia's broad political and financial support.

Poroshenko and his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Margvelashvili visited a village that is fenced off with barbed wire from the neighboring area, which is controlled by self-proclaimed South Ossetia.

Poroshenko called Russia "our common aggressor" and urged the international community to express its solidarity with Ukraine and Georgia, which have lost territories to Russia-backed separatists.

Parts of eastern Ukraine have been under the separatists' control since 2014.